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User blog:FateAlbane/Mirage Saga ~ Some More Lore
Of Mirages, and Truths... "What would you do if everything you believed to this day suddenly turned out to be an illusion?" And I do mean everything you ever. Believed. To be true. What would you do if your reflection in the mirror told you that "you have always been the fake"? If your mind, sense of self and the very reality you believed to be true up to this day were no more than a couple of mirages in a vast desert... And this small planet we call home was a lost child, a grain of sand. One wandering the Unknown garden crowned with black flowers that we call "Universe". What would you do, then, when even 'you' can be called into question? Label it a Misty Garden, and you won't realize the thorns until they cut far too deep in your flesh. Your mind is poisoned. Call it a Mirage. But then, even beyond the Mirage, it's not the truth, but another illusion that awaits us. What we see as Truth may very well be no more than an inverted reflection, projected into our souls since the day we first opened our eyes to the small light of this dark world. It is better said that until now, your eyes were doubtlessly shut. And closed eyes invite only the darkness of ignorance. But tell me... Were they closed because you didn't know that was the case? Or was that decision a deliberate one? In a world where Illusion and Reality always flow to an intersection, coalescing so they find metamorphosis into a notion of no description, only two things are an absolute certainty. Solipsism is one of them. In Mirage, it's the belief that you represent something, though the nature of your own existence is also unknown - it could be anything, but it could also be nothing. It could be both. And the other one - Verity, commonly known as the Truth. Eventually, All have to face the truth. Be it You... Be it Me. The world or the Universe. Time or Space. Nothingness itself is subject to these two concepts. But pay heed to the Voice you hear from within, or without. Those who do not open their eyes until the day where "Awakening" is unveiled will surrender themselves like stringless puppets, forever lost to the temptation of believing in this everlasting Mirage... Powerless in face of Enigma's machinations, the Asphodel. About this Story Mirage Saga is one amongst a series of stories within EVOLVERSE's growing continuity. Originally, it was a series with tones of "questioning one's life and place in the world". I had the idea for this verse when the inevitable question of "The meaning of life?" came to mind. Then, in my mind, that question turned into something else: "The meaning of life, and the meaning of one's life in other people's lives". By writting Mirage Saga, my hope was that one day I would be capable of giving my own answer to that - much like the characters are trying to find their own answer, as they move forward. Accepting Fate, or denying it? With one answer in each hand, you can only choose. But the decision is yours to make. Wouldn't that mean that your fate was always in your hands...? Or could it be that whatever your choice, nothing will really change? One way or another, you have to take that step and go beyond the "Mirage". Setting of the Story The series is originally set in the imaginary year of 2022 in a world not that much different from our own, though it doesn't last long until all of it is revealed to be a Mirage - that is, a pocket universe ~ Microcosm where a Solar System (for the smaller Ones) or a Galaxy (for the bigger ones) much like our own is all that actually exists and anything beyond it is not what It seems to the humans. ...That is to say, memories were but fabrication. The actual age of this Microcosm was no more than three years. All the humans living the present day, all of its history, all of the knowledge was stablished trough the power of two Artifacts of unimaginable power. The L:D/D:N (Life:Day/Death:Night) System. One half of it is the L:D Drive ~ Host ~ Unit. This host can control, create, destroy or distort every single "Positive" aspect of existence -- or at least the more "known" aspects: The Life we go trough, rather than Death that awaits us. Space that we live in, rather than Time which is beyond normal humans. The bright fire illuminating the serene Water. The light which pierces the darkness. Its counterpart is the D:N Drive, which holds the same powers, but over all the "Negative" -- meaning, Unknown or Opposite -- Aspects. Power over the oblivion of Nothingness, rather than any substance we can hold in our hands. Antimatter and its annihilation as it meets the material counterpart. Absolute Destruction, rather than Creation. Illusion and Fantasy, to overwrite Reality. They exist in perfect harmony, and many Mirage Worlds have been created and destroyed through their powers. Any danger to the balance of said worlds is usually promptly corrected... And time passes. Not only humans, but supernatural beings and all the many different races to exist in the world - be they powerless or wielders of great power - existed in blissfull ignorance of what lied beyond the scope of their own possibilities. Unaware of the fact that everything they knew was a Mirage, manipulated by beings who evolved past the limitation of their world, some who even sought to obtain contol of the System. Each time a world was destroyed, only a select few beings were able to survive. These were the ones who could see past the Mirage and overwhelm all connections they had with the previous Reality they were made to believe. Rather than disappearing as if they were illusions themselves, they were granted a great power, rising above their original and limited human self, achieving their true form in Power and Name. That, however, didn't change too much in the Absolute Order of Things. Awakenings aside, the L:D/D:N system remained above all others. Peerless and untouchable, such a System was like the domain of Gods. A place no human or would be angel could touch. Questions such as "where the Drives came from" and whether or not they were someone's creation, something that existed before time itself or who knows what else remained unanswered. ...But an institution was founded over the course of existence to bring light to these mysteries. The L:D/D:N Academy. With its HQ centered around the Drives, this organization was founded by Lord Lastalia - one of the first "Awakened Beings" - and dedicates itself to the purpose of unveiling the truth behind "Horizonte Alpha" (Alpha Horizon), the name that was given to the Universe where the Drives reside in. Horizonte Alpha is like a Macrocosm to the Mirage Worlds' Microcosms: It houses within its infinite expanse all of the endless Minor and Greater Mirage Worlds, as well as the Clusters of them. Though the Academy has its base around the Drives' location, their influence expands past the surface level of the material world and reaches towards other planes -- such as the dream world -- making it impossible for the Academy to truly gauge the extent of their powers. The drives' true and 'complete' domain is a place of unfathomable 'depths' or 'heights' that no one can normally reach or interact with --- in fact, even in the material world there is a limit to how close to them someone can go lest they risk their own obliteration. For that reason, no one can change the cycle of creation and destruction, nor claim the power or the Truth. What is the real purpose behind this endless cycle of creation and destruction of worlds? And is Alpha Horizon the TRUE reality or just another mirage which needs to be unveiled? Taking the newcomers under they wings and cooperating which each other, the so called 'Academy' grew as an organization... Though any sign of the truth was far from being achieved. History started to change when an''' "Anomaly"' happenned. And not due to the drives. All the worlds undergoing the process of creation and destruction at the time were suddenly dissipated and then destroyed from within. The sheer power of something that came into being inside them was to blame. This only raised new questions. Was it the desired result of someone (or something)? Was it achieved after experimenting, failing and correcting many mistakes? Or was the Anomaly it a terrible mistake, something that should never have been brought into existence? Whatever the answer, the truth was that '"The Ambivalent One"' appeared. The Ambivalent is the one said to hold the power of '"Accepting". Just what constitutes this power is a mistery, but as soon as it came to be, the balance of the world started to go astray. Distorted worlds came into existence from boundaries never before touched... Revealing Existences corrupted by the Negative and Positive aspects alike. Willing to serve the Truth, their sole purpose being to eliminate anyone who would dare try to pursue it. From the worlds that were erased, Voids known as '''"Abandon" were left all across the Horizon. From them, non-beings emerged (Abysstracts). Answering to the "Maestro of Nothingness", these seemingly sought to take control and eventually reduce all of Alpha Horizon into a Void similar to the one they were manifested from. One could say that to end it all was the Raison D'être of these new beings - but they had none, for they did not truly exist --- therefore, to strip the world of what it had was all for their nothing. And so, Abysstracts started to consume the many worlds being created, all in order to transform them into similar Voids and gather more power. "...It was a contradiction. Without ever truly leaving Zero, their numbers 'grew'." To make matters worse, amongst all of these rising problems, a New Organization composed of beings that defected from every other faction came to be: E. V. O. L. The Leader of this Organization seems to have no desire other than acquire both Drives and merge them. In theory, that would in turn forge the Drive of Solipsism and control every single aspect, rising to a level beyond that of all others. Before the time our story begins... The very Universe had turned into a Battlefield. A perpetually raging one, with sides struggling for control where one's eyes do not reach, even if close by times are peaceful... Across many different worlds and beyond the galaxies, war happens as each faction fights for the sake of their own Truth. As a countermeasure against these dangers, the L:D/D:N Academy began to work not only as an organization that desired to find the Truth, but also a force of resistance in its own right. Fighting E. V. O. L. and the Abysstracts while at the same time making incursions to other worlds, their battle became one done for the sake of finding and rescuing awakened beings --- before they could end up lost to the many shadows lurking in the Mirage Worlds. And once they have enough power, only one thing will be left: To finish their battles once and for all, while finding the Ambivalent One, restoring the balance of Alpha Horizon and searching for the Truth. Little do they know, that all of these names are more connected than they could ever imagine... Main History (Volume 1 - Awakening) In the beginning, the story follows the (mostly) normal life of Weiss, until strange things start to happen around him and he eventually finds himself in a life or death situation against a friend who reveals himself to be an Abysstract in disguise. If Weiss is killed, the entire world will go with him and become another Void. He tries to fight back, but to no avail. Thoroughly defeated, he is about to die when he is saved by the last moment appearance of the graduated student Francine Lotus Alucard. This leads to a series of events in said world, where Weiss has to accept his awakening and the illusion that his life was up to this point before the world collapses - either by the hand of the Voids or due to the imbalance of it. In the end, Weiss surpasses the Illusion, and three others - Alma, Lucian and Linnea - also awaken at the end, acquiring their own self. The four of them make an oath to keep their own names, refusing to accept that everything in their old lives was a lie for as long as they are around. Arcs in this volume: * Introduction Arc (Also called "First Appearances" Arc) * Nil Counseling Arc * The time of Awakening Arc * World Collapse Arc '' Main Story (Volume 2 - Evolution) In this volume, the saga follows the training of Weiss and co. in the L:D/D:N academy. Their relationships with others, the growing cast, races and other things about the verse are expanded upon. They start taking missions to other worlds while improving their powers under the supervision of Francine, Erika and Lord Lastalia. New enemies appear, but also strong allies. ...Further details about this volume will naturally be kept a secret for the timebeing to avoid spoilers. Terminology Horizonte-Alpha.png|Horizonte Alpha. '''- Terminology of Worlds:'' - Mirages: * Also called Mirage Worlds. The name given to the many Microcosms (otherwise called 'Fake Universes') that are either Solar System sized or on the scale of a Galaxy. Reality is warped by the drives, so what humans see and find beyond their Solar Systems or Galaxies are no more than illusions or pure fiction. - Horizonte Alpha (Alpha Horizon): * The true world - or at least, the one currently considered as such. It's a 'true' Universal Cosmos (Theorized and later confirmed to be infinite) filled with many different worlds across its extension. * All the time, Galaxy or Solar System sized Mirages are born in this Macrocosm --- eventually dying and being born again. Cristopher D'Lesmilles stated that the AH works like a strange cycle, or "a ring of reincarnation where the worlds are the ones experiencing death and rebirth, rather than the beings residing on it". * In part due to the System and in part because of the aforementioned nature (as well as the mysteries of Gen-Particle Behaviour), little is truly known about it, let alone explored as of yet. * Even in the immediate vicinity of the Academy, at times new and Uncharted Worlds can manifest, leading to discoveries that may change the current understanding of the Horizon. - Abandons: * Great voids of Distorted Nothingness left across the Universe on the wake of the Ambivalent One's Energeia and its catastrophic pulse. They are similar in aspect to an "impossible" (or otherwise, paradoxical) coalescence of Black and White Holes, where both "colors" mix with each other and distort everything on their surroundings as they assimilate existence. * The insides of such worlds -- if such a thing can even be said -- are overflowing with the Non-Existent beings called Abysstracts. While much was learned about their behaviour and circumstances, they are still considered to "act" in some sort of deep abstract condition that no one is entirely able to define, hence their namesake (Abyssal + Abstract). 'Perpetuals/Irregulars: ' * Also called Chaos Halos. * Unlike the Abandons which surged from the resulting voids, the Irregulars manifested from the Remnants of worlds that were distorted when the Ambivalent energy was felt across the Universe. * These were on the process of being created right as this force annihilated them all. Forever trapped in a state between Absolute Creation and Irreversible Erasure, they are untouchable by anyone except the beings that lurk and reside around them. * Said beings act like guardians and will hardly attack anyone without a motive, behaving as apathetically as angel statues most of the time. However, they will swiftly exterminate anyone who actively tries to pursue the Truth behind Horizonte Alpha, the Mirage Worlds or the Ambivalent One . * Strangely enough, they are not acting against E. V. O. L. despite the organization's plan to take over both Drives. - '''L:D/D:N System * Abbreviation of Life:Day/Death:Night. Rather than meaning just these things, it's supposed to represent their opposition while the "/" in the middle means ballance or the equilibrium between the two of them. They usually operate independently, yet always complementing each other. '- L:D Drive ~ Host ~ Unit': * One half of the known System. Holds absolute control over every possible substance or notion that can be seen as "Positive". '- D:N Drive ~ Host ~ Unit': * The other half of the known System. Holds absolute control over every possible thing or concept that can be seen as "negative". / DRIVE: * Also known as the secret Drive. Erika and Lucian recently theorized the existence of this third Drive in the Prismatic Central. * Theoretically speaking, it could control possible exceptions to the rule of the other two Drives and even expand their powers. Even taking all that they know about the System into account, Erika noted that this one would still be her favorite if confirmed to exist (due to being "the unpredictable Drive"). Drive of Solipsism: * An hypothetical drive that should result from the merging of the two (or three) within a single being as the medium. * Given how the full power of even the individual parts of the System are currently Unknown, it is borderline impossible to gauge how far this artifact's capabilities could go. * Researchers of the Prismatic Central stated that it could at the very least grant the user a qualitatively superior power to just wielding the other Drives together, however --- regardless of how much power one could already harness at that point... '- Factions:' '' L:D/D:N Academy (or "The Academy" for short):'' * A place created by Lord Lastalia - you may call it an institution, an organization, a liberation front or simply a mix of all that. It originally had a single and simple objective: To gather and protect other Awakened Beings, for the sake of uncovering the secrets of Horizonte Alpha. * With the rise of many complications and the advent of oponents like the organization E. V. O. L. and the Abysstracts rising in numbers by the day, they had to change priorities. Currently, the organization's main focus is to make incursions to the Mirage Worlds and save as many awakened beings as they can before enemy factions get their own hands on them. * Lord Lastalia admitted that this makes it seem as though the Academy is trying to use them as well, but in truth they're a benevolent organization --- those who do not wish to fight still receive their protection. It has three Main Divisions that can be called the Headquarters, as well as several others scattered across the Universe. * These can be accessed easily through a Network of "Access Gates" that allow for fast and long ranged teleportation when it's naturally too far even for the most capable of students. * Awakened beings that join their ranks are usually called "Students". Those who complete their training are said to have "Graduated". '- Sol Central (Also called Solaris):' * The Division stablished around the L:D Drive. * Most of the departments on this one are focused on studies that regard this artifact. The science division develops new uses for powers and creates weapons with them. * Students who have more "positive oriented" abilities are sent to training classes in this division for the first half of their training in order to better improve the control over their powers, while those with Negative oriented powers are sent here on the second half of their training to learn how to fight against opposing forces. - Luna Central (Also called Artemis): * The counterpart for the above central. * This central does much the same as the Sol Central, though dealing with the Negative side of powers and the lore of the world, Gen Particles as well, negative creatures and such things. On the second half of the training period, it exchanges its students with those that come from Solaris. - Prismatic Central (Also called Elysium): * It's the main researching branch of the Academy and also where the LPC (Lastalia's Postulate for Creation) is guarded. It's also a place where the most intensive research on Gen-Particle properties is done. For more information about this and several other things, see this Blog.' ' ' ''E. V. O. L. (E'xodus - V'''indicators O'f' L'iberation')': * See this Blog. Category:Blog posts